Grotius’ major works, especially Mare Liberum and more subtly De Jure Belli ac Pacis, owe much to his political ambitions, and also to his experience of public affairs. A protégé of Johan van ...
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Grotius’ major works, especially Mare Liberum and more subtly De Jure Belli ac Pacis, owe much to his political ambitions, and also to his experience of public affairs. A protégé of Johan van Oldenbarnevelt and supporter of the position of the Dutch East India Company, Grotius was successively pensionary of Rotterdam (1613–18), in prison at Loewenstein (Loevestein) Castle (1619–21), and in exile (1621–45). Among the motives determining Grotius’ activities, his political aspirations played a constant and considerable role.Less

Grotius and the International Politics of the Seventeenth Century

C. G. Roelofsen

Published in print: 1992-03-19

Grotius’ major works, especially Mare Liberum and more subtly De Jure Belli ac Pacis, owe much to his political ambitions, and also to his experience of public affairs. A protégé of Johan van Oldenbarnevelt and supporter of the position of the Dutch East India Company, Grotius was successively pensionary of Rotterdam (1613–18), in prison at Loewenstein (Loevestein) Castle (1619–21), and in exile (1621–45). Among the motives determining Grotius’ activities, his political aspirations played a constant and considerable role.

The Dutch East India Company was a hybrid organization combining the characteristics of both corporation and state that attempted to thrust itself aggressively into an Asian political order in which ...
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The Dutch East India Company was a hybrid organization combining the characteristics of both corporation and state that attempted to thrust itself aggressively into an Asian political order in which it possessed no obvious place and was transformed in the process. This book focuses on the company's clashes with Tokugawa, Japan, over diplomacy, violence, and sovereignty. In each encounter the Dutch were forced to retreat, compelled to abandon their claims to sovereign powers, and to refashion themselves again and again—from subjects of a fictive king to loyal vassals of the shogun, from aggressive pirates to meek merchants, and from insistent defenders of colonial sovereignty to legal subjects of the Tokugawa state. Within the confines of these conflicts, the terms of the relationship between the company and the shogun first took shape and were subsequently set into what would become their permanent form. The first book to treat the Dutch East India Company in Japan as something more than just a commercial organization, it presents new perspective on one of the most important, long-lasting relationships to develop between an Asian state and a European overseas enterprise.Less

The Company and the Shogun : The Dutch Encounter with Tokugawa Japan

Adam Clulow

Published in print: 2013-12-24

The Dutch East India Company was a hybrid organization combining the characteristics of both corporation and state that attempted to thrust itself aggressively into an Asian political order in which it possessed no obvious place and was transformed in the process. This book focuses on the company's clashes with Tokugawa, Japan, over diplomacy, violence, and sovereignty. In each encounter the Dutch were forced to retreat, compelled to abandon their claims to sovereign powers, and to refashion themselves again and again—from subjects of a fictive king to loyal vassals of the shogun, from aggressive pirates to meek merchants, and from insistent defenders of colonial sovereignty to legal subjects of the Tokugawa state. Within the confines of these conflicts, the terms of the relationship between the company and the shogun first took shape and were subsequently set into what would become their permanent form. The first book to treat the Dutch East India Company in Japan as something more than just a commercial organization, it presents new perspective on one of the most important, long-lasting relationships to develop between an Asian state and a European overseas enterprise.

The first chapter of Part I begins by taking stock of European theories of fever, and of the importance of the work of the Hippocratic revival, particularly as reflected in the work of Sydenham, ...
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The first chapter of Part I begins by taking stock of European theories of fever, and of the importance of the work of the Hippocratic revival, particularly as reflected in the work of Sydenham, Boerhaave, and Hoffman. The discussion then turns to medical work in the tropical colonies during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, placing British medicine in the context of earlier work by the Portuguese and Dutch. The chapter examines both the East and the West Indies. It shows the growing importance of climate and morbid anatomy in theories of disease and how ideas about disease had a bearing on concepts of race. The strongly natural‐historical orientation of colonial practice is emphasized, along with its connections to the politics of medical reform in Britain.Less

Climate, fever, and medicine before 1700

Mark Harrison

Published in print: 2010-09-16

The first chapter of Part I begins by taking stock of European theories of fever, and of the importance of the work of the Hippocratic revival, particularly as reflected in the work of Sydenham, Boerhaave, and Hoffman. The discussion then turns to medical work in the tropical colonies during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, placing British medicine in the context of earlier work by the Portuguese and Dutch. The chapter examines both the East and the West Indies. It shows the growing importance of climate and morbid anatomy in theories of disease and how ideas about disease had a bearing on concepts of race. The strongly natural‐historical orientation of colonial practice is emphasized, along with its connections to the politics of medical reform in Britain.

This chapter is a regional study of the emerging “successor state” of Arcot in southern India, drawing upon the Persian chronicling tradition and the records of the Dutch East India Company. The ...
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This chapter is a regional study of the emerging “successor state” of Arcot in southern India, drawing upon the Persian chronicling tradition and the records of the Dutch East India Company. The early eighteenth century in northern Tamil saw at that time a rise of a new type of state, the autonomous nizāmat, or what the British were apt to call the “nawabi” state, operating under the carapace of Mughal sovereignty. This state emerged as a sort of condominium of a Deccani (Nawayat) elite and Persianized Hindu communities such as the Khatris. This chapter attempts to sketch the main lines of development in the Arcot nizāmat, under Da'ud Khan Panni, and then the founder of the Nawayat “dynasty”, Muhammad Sa'id, or Sa'adatullah Khan.Less

Trade and Politics in the Arcot Nizāmat (1700–1732)

Muzaffar AlamSanjay Subrahmanyam

Published in print: 2011-08-30

This chapter is a regional study of the emerging “successor state” of Arcot in southern India, drawing upon the Persian chronicling tradition and the records of the Dutch East India Company. The early eighteenth century in northern Tamil saw at that time a rise of a new type of state, the autonomous nizāmat, or what the British were apt to call the “nawabi” state, operating under the carapace of Mughal sovereignty. This state emerged as a sort of condominium of a Deccani (Nawayat) elite and Persianized Hindu communities such as the Khatris. This chapter attempts to sketch the main lines of development in the Arcot nizāmat, under Da'ud Khan Panni, and then the founder of the Nawayat “dynasty”, Muhammad Sa'id, or Sa'adatullah Khan.

This chapter examines how the trading of shares of the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, or VOC) began. A total of 1,143 investors subscribed to the initial capital of the ...
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This chapter examines how the trading of shares of the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, or VOC) began. A total of 1,143 investors subscribed to the initial capital of the VOC’s Amsterdam chamber. They had been encouraged to invest by the charter that the States General, the highest administrative body in the Dutch Republic, had granted the VOC on March 20, 1602. This charter was the Company’s deed of incorporation, and it spelled out, among other things, the monopoly it had been granted. “All the residents of these lands,” stated article 10, “may buy shares in this Company.” Investors could decide which of the Company’s six chambers to put their money into. There were share registers in Enkhuizen, Hoorn, Delft, and Rotterdam, as well as in Amsterdam and Middelburg. Almost 6.5 million guilders was subscribed to the VOC’s initial capital—a large sum for the world’s first public subscription to an enterprise’s share capital.Less

A New Company

Lodewijk Petram

Published in print: 2014-05-27

This chapter examines how the trading of shares of the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, or VOC) began. A total of 1,143 investors subscribed to the initial capital of the VOC’s Amsterdam chamber. They had been encouraged to invest by the charter that the States General, the highest administrative body in the Dutch Republic, had granted the VOC on March 20, 1602. This charter was the Company’s deed of incorporation, and it spelled out, among other things, the monopoly it had been granted. “All the residents of these lands,” stated article 10, “may buy shares in this Company.” Investors could decide which of the Company’s six chambers to put their money into. There were share registers in Enkhuizen, Hoorn, Delft, and Rotterdam, as well as in Amsterdam and Middelburg. Almost 6.5 million guilders was subscribed to the VOC’s initial capital—a large sum for the world’s first public subscription to an enterprise’s share capital.

This chapter provides historical context for understanding the legal treatment of companies that commit wrongdoing. Section I traces the experience of two early joint ventures—the Dutch East India ...
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This chapter provides historical context for understanding the legal treatment of companies that commit wrongdoing. Section I traces the experience of two early joint ventures—the Dutch East India Company and the British East India Company, which were founded to establish colonial economic units, create new trade routes, and secure monopolies on key commodities. The brutality with which both companies pursued these objectives led to human rights abuses, slavery, and ultimately genocide. Section II discusses the role of corporations in the context of wartime in the early twentieth Century. In both world wars, companies were major players furthering the efforts of their home states. But the German corporations displayed a much more egregious callousness toward humanity than companies in other belligerent states. Developing poison gas for battlefield use in World War I, and deploying gas to the extermination camps and openly using slave labor in World War II, sets German companies apart from the rest generally and the I.G. Farben firm in particular. Section III provides an update on civil liability within the United States of foreign corporations engaged in tortious conduct abroad.Less

The Corporation as an Atrocity Contributor

Michael J. KellyLuis Moreno-Ocampo

Published in print: 2016-04-01

This chapter provides historical context for understanding the legal treatment of companies that commit wrongdoing. Section I traces the experience of two early joint ventures—the Dutch East India Company and the British East India Company, which were founded to establish colonial economic units, create new trade routes, and secure monopolies on key commodities. The brutality with which both companies pursued these objectives led to human rights abuses, slavery, and ultimately genocide. Section II discusses the role of corporations in the context of wartime in the early twentieth Century. In both world wars, companies were major players furthering the efforts of their home states. But the German corporations displayed a much more egregious callousness toward humanity than companies in other belligerent states. Developing poison gas for battlefield use in World War I, and deploying gas to the extermination camps and openly using slave labor in World War II, sets German companies apart from the rest generally and the I.G. Farben firm in particular. Section III provides an update on civil liability within the United States of foreign corporations engaged in tortious conduct abroad.

This chapter examines the role of the “king of Holland”—a fictive sovereign built around the Prince Maurits, the Stadhouder—in the story of the Dutch encounter with the Tokugawa Bakufu, by looking at ...
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This chapter examines the role of the “king of Holland”—a fictive sovereign built around the Prince Maurits, the Stadhouder—in the story of the Dutch encounter with the Tokugawa Bakufu, by looking at what the Dutch East India Company representatives actually said (or wrote) and by assuming that such statements carried weight. When envoys explained that they came from the “king of Holland,” this was not an accident of translation or a kind of diplomatic garnish loosely sprinkled over something more substantial. Instead, as the Tokugawa records make clear, it provided both structure and logic to the first phase of negotiations between the company and the shogun, during a time when European attempts to establish diplomatic engagements in Asia proved complicated and inefficient.Less

Royal Letters from the Republic

Adam Clulow

Published in print: 2013-12-24

This chapter examines the role of the “king of Holland”—a fictive sovereign built around the Prince Maurits, the Stadhouder—in the story of the Dutch encounter with the Tokugawa Bakufu, by looking at what the Dutch East India Company representatives actually said (or wrote) and by assuming that such statements carried weight. When envoys explained that they came from the “king of Holland,” this was not an accident of translation or a kind of diplomatic garnish loosely sprinkled over something more substantial. Instead, as the Tokugawa records make clear, it provided both structure and logic to the first phase of negotiations between the company and the shogun, during a time when European attempts to establish diplomatic engagements in Asia proved complicated and inefficient.

This chapter sketches a profile of the Amsterdam prostitutes, and of their main clients, the sailors. Statistics and data from the judicial records enable to construct a collective biography of the ...
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This chapter sketches a profile of the Amsterdam prostitutes, and of their main clients, the sailors. Statistics and data from the judicial records enable to construct a collective biography of the arrested prostitutes; the majority (75 %) of whom were immigrants, from Dutch and German cities, single, and by trade textile workers or seamstresses. In comparison, Amsterdam brides were mostly native girls and if immigrants, maidservants from the countryside. Seafaring was extremely important for Dutch society, especially for the lower classes. Recruitment for the Dutch East India Company (VOC) among lower class men caused a large surplus of women, many of them poor immigrants with little prospect of marriage. VOC sailors not only were prominent clients of prostitutes, but they often came from the same backgrounds and regions.Less

‘Birds of a Feather Flock Together’: Prostitutes, Clients, and Seafaring

Lotte van de Pol

Published in print: 2011-03-17

This chapter sketches a profile of the Amsterdam prostitutes, and of their main clients, the sailors. Statistics and data from the judicial records enable to construct a collective biography of the arrested prostitutes; the majority (75 %) of whom were immigrants, from Dutch and German cities, single, and by trade textile workers or seamstresses. In comparison, Amsterdam brides were mostly native girls and if immigrants, maidservants from the countryside. Seafaring was extremely important for Dutch society, especially for the lower classes. Recruitment for the Dutch East India Company (VOC) among lower class men caused a large surplus of women, many of them poor immigrants with little prospect of marriage. VOC sailors not only were prominent clients of prostitutes, but they often came from the same backgrounds and regions.

Grotius's name and fame—which extends to the fields of theology, history, social philosophy, jurisprudence, and law—has frequently been used for extraneous purposes. King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden ...
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Grotius's name and fame—which extends to the fields of theology, history, social philosophy, jurisprudence, and law—has frequently been used for extraneous purposes. King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden is supposed to have rested his head on Grotius's book during his military campaigns. From his work for the Dutch East India Company onwards, Grotius responded to the needs of congenial establishments and the rewards they could bestow on him. The claim to the presentation of a comprehensive system of international law, implicit in the title De Jure Belli ac Pacis, gave Grotius a special appeal. His work could be used selectively whenever convenient. However, one part of the Grotian tradition, the call for moderation, has enduring value.Less

The Grotius Factor in International Law and Relations: A Functional Approach

Georg Schwarzenberger

Published in print: 1992-03-19

Grotius's name and fame—which extends to the fields of theology, history, social philosophy, jurisprudence, and law—has frequently been used for extraneous purposes. King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden is supposed to have rested his head on Grotius's book during his military campaigns. From his work for the Dutch East India Company onwards, Grotius responded to the needs of congenial establishments and the rewards they could bestow on him. The claim to the presentation of a comprehensive system of international law, implicit in the title De Jure Belli ac Pacis, gave Grotius a special appeal. His work could be used selectively whenever convenient. However, one part of the Grotian tradition, the call for moderation, has enduring value.

This introductory chapter describes an oft-neglected aspect of Japan's initial contact with the West. In particular, it focuses on the interaction between the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde ...
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This introductory chapter describes an oft-neglected aspect of Japan's initial contact with the West. In particular, it focuses on the interaction between the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie or VOC) and the Tokugawa regime. Although there had been a fairly short span of European dominance in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, for a far longer period the dynamic was reversed. Because of this, when an earlier fleet of foreign warships appeared in Japanese harbors in the seventeenth century, it received a very different reception from that afforded to Perry. While the arrival of this first generation of black ships also triggered a process of socialization, it was one in which Europeans were forced to adapt in order to claim a place in a political order that they could do little to alter.Less

Introduction : Taming the Dutch

Adam Clulow

Published in print: 2013-12-24

This introductory chapter describes an oft-neglected aspect of Japan's initial contact with the West. In particular, it focuses on the interaction between the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie or VOC) and the Tokugawa regime. Although there had been a fairly short span of European dominance in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, for a far longer period the dynamic was reversed. Because of this, when an earlier fleet of foreign warships appeared in Japanese harbors in the seventeenth century, it received a very different reception from that afforded to Perry. While the arrival of this first generation of black ships also triggered a process of socialization, it was one in which Europeans were forced to adapt in order to claim a place in a political order that they could do little to alter.